Rubi's 2nd birthday

We all got together to celebrate Rubi's birthday and it was a lot of fun. She got lots of fun gifts and enjoyed all the people around. We gave her a pink & black tutu that I made her and she loved it and danced around in it. She had an Elmo themed party and Britt did a great job with her cake and cupcakes. All in all a great day with the fam bam.

{Above Photo by JenFallanPhotography}

 {He loves pictures can you tell?}

Counting blessings.

I received the following Cable Bill statement today:

Bill Amount     $27.02 credit
Due Date         05/07/2011
   No payment is due.

Not sure why. Not sure how. But I know who.

Tea Party

Today I had a tea party with Rubi. We very-eloquently, of course-used our princess tea set to sip our pretend milk, eat real crackers with {processed} cheese and chat about the news of the day. Oh to be a kid again and play pretend...Got to love it!

{notice how focused she is on the cheese, I wonder what was going through her head}

TOFW

I had the most amazing opportunity to drive to Fresno,CA {the drive wasn't the amazing part} and meet up with, Shawna Brown, one of my closest friends from the Bay area. She texted me about a month ago and said, "What are you doing on April 8th & 9th?" to which I responded, "exactly what you are doing." She invited me to go to Time Out for Women {TOFW} with her. She would drive from Hayward and I would drive from Riverside. The drive wasn't that bad {about 3 1/2 hours}. We booked a hotel and it was like having a slumber party for Big Girls. We had so much fun talking and chatting and catching up and most of all LAUGHING!! There is just something about laughing with your friends that adds to the beauty of a friendship. We had the worst service @ El Torito and @ IHOP. It was ridiculous how bad it was..but we laughed it out and had a good time doing it. We attended TOFW Friday evening.  The speakers spoke on amazing topics. The theme of the event was Choose to Become. It was centered around setting goals on who we want to be as a person, as a wife, a mother, daughter, sister, and a friend. It was about setting goals and trying to find ways to achieve them. It was about finding happiness and holy places amidst hard times, trials, disappointment and adversity. Saturday, we were up early and ate our {FREE} Continental Breakfast {stashed some goods for later}. We headed out for a full day of enrichment and uplifting words. We heard many more talks, personal experiences, beautiful music and we were touched by the strong Spirit that was there. It is amazing how good you can feel when you are able to recharge your thoughts, your energy, and disperse it in such a better way than you had it before. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to spend the time with my friend that I did. It is something we will have to definitely do again! Love you Shawna Mahana Brown!

Oh ya and how could I forget our little "Miracle" experience. Heavenly Father was really watching out for us..there were literally angels watching over us and our hotel room...{See picture below}

Note to self:

Self,

DO NOT LEAVE the room key in the door the entire night, next time, some crazies just might come and get ya! {Especially the drunken ones from El Torito across the parking lot}

RECOMMENDATION

Absolutely amazing read. Highly recommend it!

Love Technology

Skyping with the Rubster

Ru dancing for me

 Happy girl!

Ru trying to eat the chip I am trying to feed her through the camera

 Ru couldn't get the chip, but she is salivating thinking about the candy she could possibly get {through the camera of course}

Saying good night to me {by name-she is at the CY of my name}

Thanks for the nice visit through the screen Ru! I love you! Muah!

Sage & Jade

finding joy in small and simple things

Small & Simple Things

There is so much to appreciate about life. Today I was reminded of how truly blessed I am. By Small & Simple Things great things come to pass. As I walked into one of my clients homes today, his mom said, "A Big Person" {She has three kids 6,4,2. She has been struggling lately with her relationship with the kids dad and as of Saturday the dad just packed up and left them, no money, no car} I looked at her and asked, "how are you?" She immediately started to vent and tears came pouring out. I listened and embraced her, wishing I could fix her problems and take away her pain. I stood in silence as she cried in my arms. {Change can happen with the slightest gestures. Remember to help one another because there will be a time when you need someone to lean on.}
Lately, I have been looking at the world around me and the more I look the more I see how blessed I am. I look and read of others and their hardships and mine seem bearable. I feel thankful for the peace I have been given through the Spirit. I wondered if I had enough faith to get through our small difficulties and I was reminded by my amazing husband, "Babe WE just gotta have faith." {I am never alone} I have my best friend right by me. I also know that my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ will never abandon me. My faith has carried me. It is hard to live on Heavenly Father's time, but I have faith that Heavenly Father knows what is best for us. I was given strength when I needed it most. I learned that when we look outside ourselves we become stronger, as we are stronger for others around us. Small & Simple Things change a person.

"Would I give up those feelings of knowing that my Savior encircles me and passes all my understanding, just to have no trials or adversity?"

Blessed

After attending the temple with my amazing husband, we stopped @ our usual hot spot for our {after the temple} dinner. With money tight these days we were grateful to have been blessed by only spending $8.16 that was for two meals a drink, and somehow we managed {the guy working must have thought I was cute..or that Evan was cute one of the two} to get a free dessert!!

Gotta love us a good cheap meal! {Beats .49 cent bean burritos from Del Taco}

Saturday is a Special Day: Knotts Berry Farm

We went on rides...

Went on more rides...

Laughed and screamed on rides..

And had a great family day-overcoming arguments and fears to get on rides (Kayla and Brian), trying to explain to Audi {who is 4} that she can't go on the big kid rides, eating snacks, making decisions on what ride to go on next, waiting in line, trying to find "cheap" food at a theme park, wishing Rubi would feel better and making great memories all at Knotts Berry Farm {March 27th, 2011}